U.S. voters say 56 - 31 percent, including 60 - 34 percent among Catholic voters, that Notre
Dame University should not rescind its invitation to President Barack Obama to speak at the
university's commencement, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

Observant Catholic voters who attend religious services about once a week say 49 - 43
percent that Notre Dame should keep President Obama on the program, while Catholics who
attend services less frequently say 70 - 26 percent that Obama should speak, the independent
Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University survey of 2,041 registered voters nationwide finds.

Protestants are less forgiving of Obama's pro-choice position as all white Protestants say
51 - 33 percent that the President should be allowed to speak while white evangelical Protestants
split with 44 percent saying he should speak and 42 percent saying the invitation should be
rescinded.

"Neither Americans overall, nor Roman Catholic voters in particular, think Notre Dame
should rescind its invitation to President Obama," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the
Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "The strongest opposition to the President's appearance
comes from observant Catholics, but more of them than not say he should be allowed to speak."

Given four choices on abortion:

15 percent of all voters, including 13 percent of Catholics and 10 percent of observant
Catholics, say abortion should be legal in all cases;

37 percent of all voters, including 37 percent of Catholics and 19 percent of observant
Catholics, say abortion should be legal in most cases;

27 percent of all voters, including 28 percent of Catholics and 40 percent of observant
Catholics, say abortion should be illegal in most cases;

14 percent of all voters, including 16 percent of Catholics and 26 percent of observant
Catholics, say abortion should be illegal in all cases.

"What is interesting and often forgotten about the abortion issue is that despite church
teachings, Roman Catholics' views on abortion are pretty much the same as all Americans on the
issue," Brown added. "As in many cases, the opposition to the President's invitation to Notre
Dame comes from more outspoken members of the Catholic community, but does not represent
the overall view of Catholics."

From April 21 - 27, Quinnipiac University surveyed 2,041 registered voters nationwide
with a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the
nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed - http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, or call (203) 582-5201.

15. As you may know, some Catholics are calling for Notre Dame to rescind its
invitation to President Obama to deliver this year's commencement address
because they say his stances on abortion rights and embryonic stem cell
research contradict church teaching. Do you think the University of Notre Dame
should rescind its invitation to President Obama to give this year's
commencement address or not?